MMC 3420 CHAPTERS 10 AND 11 EXAM
UPDATED QUESTIONS AND CORRECT
ANSWERS.
Mathematical methods to collect, organize, summarize, and analyze data - provides valid and
reliable results only when the data collection and research methods follow established scientific
procedures: - ANS statistics
in 1835 Lambert Adolphe Quetelet a Belgian mathematician and astronomer laid much of the
ground work for: - ANS statistics - did this through his paper titled "On man and the
development of his faculties"
statistical methods and techniques designed to reduce data sets to allow for easier
interpretation - meaningful organization of data: - ANS descriptive statistics - it would be
really difficult to read a list of 100 answers compiled from a sample of 100 people about how
long they listened to the radio - so we use descriptive statistics to make it simpler to read
mass media researchers use two primary methods to make their data more manageable: -
ANS data distributions and summary statistics
this is simply a collection of numbers: - ANS data distribution
1 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED
,this is a table of the scores ordered according to magnitude and frequency of occurrence - can
also be constructed using grouped intervals: - ANS frequency distribution - the data begins to
show a pattern
this type of frequency is constructed by adding the number of scores in one interval to the
number of scores in the intervals above it: - ANS cumulative frequency
what's another word for the x-axis: - ANS abscissa (horrizontal)
what's another word for the y-axis: - ANS ordinate (vertical)
this is a common form of a graph - this kind of graph has vertical bars to represent frequencies:
- ANS histogram or bar chart
when you have a histogram or bar chart and you draw a line from the midpoint of each interval
at its peak along the y-axis to each adjacent midpoint/peak the resulting graph is called a: -
ANS frequency polygon
this is similar to a frequency polygon except that the points are reconnected by a continuous,
unbroken curve instead of by lines: - ANS frequency curve
a normal symmetrical bell-shaped curve: - ANS normal (symmetrical) curve
patterns of deviation between curves are called - the concentration of scores around a
particular point on the x-axis: - ANS skewness
this type of curve possesses the quality of lying towards the low end of the scale, with the tail of
the curve trailing off to the right - this curve is called a ____ skew: - ANS right skew
2 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED
, this type of curve possesses the quality of having the tail of the curve trailing off to the left: -
ANS left skew
if the halves of a curve are identical it is referred to as: - ANS symmetrical or normal - it's not
skewed in either direction
although the word skewness is a valid statistical term it's not used much in research - instead
variations of the word ____ are used: - ANS lean - researchers may say the data leans one
way or another
this helps make data more manageable by measuring two basic tendencies of distributions:
central tendency and dispersion, or variability: - ANS summary statistics
a single value that is chosen to represent a typical score in a distribution, such as the mean, the
mode, or the median - the statistics provide info about the grouping of the numbers in a
distribution by giving a single number that characterizes the entire distribution: - ANS central
tendency
this is the score or scores that occur most frequently: - ANS mode
what are 2 draw backs about the mode: - ANS the mode focuses attention on only one score,
which can hide important facts about the data when considered alone. Also a distribution of
scores can have more than one mode.
what are the 3 summary statistics? - ANS mean, median, and mode
this is the midpoint of a distribution - half of the scores lie above it and half lie below it: -
ANS median - if the distribution has an odd number of scores the median is the middle score
3 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED
UPDATED QUESTIONS AND CORRECT
ANSWERS.
Mathematical methods to collect, organize, summarize, and analyze data - provides valid and
reliable results only when the data collection and research methods follow established scientific
procedures: - ANS statistics
in 1835 Lambert Adolphe Quetelet a Belgian mathematician and astronomer laid much of the
ground work for: - ANS statistics - did this through his paper titled "On man and the
development of his faculties"
statistical methods and techniques designed to reduce data sets to allow for easier
interpretation - meaningful organization of data: - ANS descriptive statistics - it would be
really difficult to read a list of 100 answers compiled from a sample of 100 people about how
long they listened to the radio - so we use descriptive statistics to make it simpler to read
mass media researchers use two primary methods to make their data more manageable: -
ANS data distributions and summary statistics
this is simply a collection of numbers: - ANS data distribution
1 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED
,this is a table of the scores ordered according to magnitude and frequency of occurrence - can
also be constructed using grouped intervals: - ANS frequency distribution - the data begins to
show a pattern
this type of frequency is constructed by adding the number of scores in one interval to the
number of scores in the intervals above it: - ANS cumulative frequency
what's another word for the x-axis: - ANS abscissa (horrizontal)
what's another word for the y-axis: - ANS ordinate (vertical)
this is a common form of a graph - this kind of graph has vertical bars to represent frequencies:
- ANS histogram or bar chart
when you have a histogram or bar chart and you draw a line from the midpoint of each interval
at its peak along the y-axis to each adjacent midpoint/peak the resulting graph is called a: -
ANS frequency polygon
this is similar to a frequency polygon except that the points are reconnected by a continuous,
unbroken curve instead of by lines: - ANS frequency curve
a normal symmetrical bell-shaped curve: - ANS normal (symmetrical) curve
patterns of deviation between curves are called - the concentration of scores around a
particular point on the x-axis: - ANS skewness
this type of curve possesses the quality of lying towards the low end of the scale, with the tail of
the curve trailing off to the right - this curve is called a ____ skew: - ANS right skew
2 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED
, this type of curve possesses the quality of having the tail of the curve trailing off to the left: -
ANS left skew
if the halves of a curve are identical it is referred to as: - ANS symmetrical or normal - it's not
skewed in either direction
although the word skewness is a valid statistical term it's not used much in research - instead
variations of the word ____ are used: - ANS lean - researchers may say the data leans one
way or another
this helps make data more manageable by measuring two basic tendencies of distributions:
central tendency and dispersion, or variability: - ANS summary statistics
a single value that is chosen to represent a typical score in a distribution, such as the mean, the
mode, or the median - the statistics provide info about the grouping of the numbers in a
distribution by giving a single number that characterizes the entire distribution: - ANS central
tendency
this is the score or scores that occur most frequently: - ANS mode
what are 2 draw backs about the mode: - ANS the mode focuses attention on only one score,
which can hide important facts about the data when considered alone. Also a distribution of
scores can have more than one mode.
what are the 3 summary statistics? - ANS mean, median, and mode
this is the midpoint of a distribution - half of the scores lie above it and half lie below it: -
ANS median - if the distribution has an odd number of scores the median is the middle score
3 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED
